Ballooning over the Yarra Valley

Our first activity in Melbourne was a sunrise hot air ballooning trip over the Yarra Valley wine region - a 30th birthday present to Mark from his father. We were staying with Meg's cousin Anna, and her husband Jamie, who had kindly given us use of their car for the morning. After very little sleep, we set off from the city at 3:30am to make the one hour journey.



Upon arrival, Mark enthusiastically offered his assistance with inflating the balloon. This basically involved holding the mouth of the balloon open while air was blasted inside and then heated.

There were two other balloons taking flight from the same field and we watched as they majestically inflated. The balloon nearest to us had the message "Will you marry me?" on its side. This was concealed from the 3rd balloon until they had taken flight. It then rotated to be in full view of the 3rd balloon, at which point a marriage proposal was then made in the 3rd balloon.

Meg joked that this was arguably more romantic than dressing in a bear suit, getting down on a furry knee and using a cheese string. Fortunately Mark was unable to hear over the incredible noise of the burners!

Prior to our flight, there had been severe rainfall over Victoria which had cleared the air for great views from our balloon. However it had the disadvantage of making the fields extremely boggy ... as we would later find out!

We flew for over an hour, rising and falling to catch the different winds at each altitude. We had great views of the vineyards below, and the sun rising over the hills.

What had looked like a prime landing spot from 2000 feet, turned out to be a swamp from six feet! After landing we were enlisted to assist with deflating and packing up the huge balloon, and then lifting balloon and basket onto a nearby trailer. This took about an hour and left us with squelching shoes. Nonetheless, it was actually quite good fun and worked up a healthy appetite for our champagne breakfast back at the lovely Chateau Yering.